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Yankees add to Boone’s coaching staff

The coaching staff around New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone will be a blend of new faces and old. Even before Boone was made the new skipper, the club announced Pitching Coach Larry Rothschild would be retained.

Word is also trickling in on other coaching positions with Bench Coach Rob Thomson joining the Philadelphia Phillies as their Bench Coach and Third Base Coach Joe Espada joining the Houston Astros as their Bench Coach.

MIKE HARKEY – BULLPEN COACH

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Much like Tony Cloninger with Buck Showalter and Joe Torre, the team is set to announce Harkey will stay on with Boone after eight seasons on Joe Girardi’s staff. Given his track record with the bullpen, it makes a ton of sense. This move also helps Boone’s learning curve with bullpen management.

While the pitching side hires appear to be more on the technical side, the other reported hires appear to have Boone’s familiarity and comfort level in mind.

JOSH BARD – BENCH COACH

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The Ithaca, N.Y., native spent parts of a decade catching in the majors with the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals, and Seattle Mariners, from 2002-2011. Bard and Boone were teammates on the 2005 Indians.

According to Ken Rosenthal, the 39-year-old Bard was the Dodgers bullpen coach in each of the past two seasons and served as a special assistant in their front office in the three years prior. Bard also fills the catching instructor role in working with young Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine.

PHIL NEVIN – THIRD BASE COACH

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Nevin and Boone were teammates at El Dorado high school in Placentia, Calif. Like Boone, Nevin also has experience in the ESPN broadcast booth, working as an analyst during the College World Series. Nevin was most recently the third base coach on Bruce Bochy’s staff in San Francisco. This offseason he was in the running for the managing vacancies with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies.

The Fullerton, Calif., native does have minor-league managing experience, spending a season at the helm of the independent Golden Baseball League Orange County Flyers in 2008, followed by stints with the Double-A Erie SeaWolves in 2009 and the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens from 2010-2013 in the Tigers system and he skippered the Triple-A Reno Aces from 2014-2016 in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

Nevin is perhaps best known as the No. 1 overall pick of the 1992 MLB Draft by the Houston Astros, instead of Derek Jeter. Despite some early struggles, Nevin carved out a respectable 12-year major-league career from 1995-2006, hitting 208 home runs, with his best season coming in a 2001 All-Star campaign with the San Diego Padres, when he belted 41 home runs.

According to Bob Nightengale, Nevin will hold down third base coaching duties.

REGGIE WILLITS – FIRST BASE COACH

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Willits takes over the first base coaching duties from Tony Pena. The University of Oklahoma product spent six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels from 2006-2011. His best season came in 2007 when he batted .293 with 27 stolen bases. The 36-year-old coached high school baseball for three seasons after his playing days and joined the Yankees as their outfield and baserunning coordinator in 2015.

MARCUS THAMES – HITTING COACH

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After spending two seasons as Assistant Hitting Coach, Thames moves up to Hitting Coach, taking over for Alan Cockrell. Prior to joining the big league staff, Thames spent three seasons as hitting coach in the organization between Tampa, Trenton, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Drafted by the Yankees in 1996, the former outfielder spent two stints in the Bronx and his first big league hit was a home run off Randy Johnson in 2002. Thames swatted 115 home runs across 10 MLB seasons with the Yankees, Texas Rangers, Tigers, and Dodgers.